Etteplan (Finland) - Etteplan has acquired Cognitas GmbH, a German technical information lifecycle management company from Canon Germany GmbH. The acquisition strengthens Etteplan´s position in Germany and continues our strategic investments in Central Europe. With the acquisition we become a market leading company in technical documentation in Germany and reinforce our leading position in Europe.

Cognitas, founded out of the Siemens company in 2000 and owned by Canon Germany since 2014, is a leading German consulting and services company in with an annual turnover around EUR 15 million with 200 professionals in consulting and technical information authoring and management. The parties have agreed not to publish the purchase price.

“The acquisition is in line with Etteplan’s growth strategy as it complements our expertise and increases our international presence. Cognitas brings us new customers which opens up new potential and significantly strengthens our capabilities to deliver technical documentation solutions and services to a wider range of customers. With the acquisition we also reinforce our leading position in technical documentation in Europe” says Juha Näkki, President and CEO, Etteplan.

After the acquisition Etteplan has globally over 850 experts working in different fields of technical documentation in six countries.

“Etteplan is a market leader in technical documentation in Finland and in the Netherlands, and acquisition with Cognitas makes us a market leading company also in Germany. Cognitas is one of the best companies in the field of technical documentation and a forerunner in developing digital services for technical documentation in Germany. We are happy to welcome Cognitas´ personnel to join us” says Mikael Vatn, SVP, Technical Documentation Solutions, Etteplan.

“We are pleased that with the agreement we have now reached, we can provide Cognitas GmbH with the ideal platform to continue its success story, as an integral part of Etteplan, to drive forward its strategic expansion and growth strategy in Germany” says Rainer Führes, Managing director, Canon Germany.

“We are happy to be part of Etteplan which is one of the leading companies in technical documentation in Europe. We will have a good new home in a rapidly developing growth company where technical documentation is one of the key business areas” says Bernhard Huber Managing Director of Cognitas.

After the acquisition Etteplan operates in 16 different cities in Germany and employs there over 400  technical experts, close to 250 of them specializing in technical documentation. Etteplan first started its operations in Germany through the acquisition of Arvato AG’s technical documentation business in 2015. In 2019 Etteplan expanded its operations in Germany to engineering services and acquired EMP Engineering Alliance. In May 2021 Etteplan acquired technical documentation specialist F.I.T. Fahrzeug Ingenieurtechnik GmbH, who specializes in governmental utility vehicles and the defense industry. In September 2021 Etteplan acquired BST Buck Systemtechnik GmbH who specializes in software development, process automatization and hardware engineering.

Etteplan in brief:

Etteplan provides solutions for software and embedded solutions, solutions for industrial equipment and plant engineering and technical documentation solutions to the world’s leading companies in the manufacturing industry. Our services are geared to improve the competitiveness of our customers’ products, services and engineering processes throughout the product life cycle. The results of Etteplan’s innovative engineering can be seen in numerous industrial solutions and everyday products.

In 2020, Etteplan had a turnover of approximately EUR 260 million. The company currently has over 3,800 professionals in Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Denmark and China. Etteplan's shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd under the ETTE ticker.